Projects

The Cambridge Learning Group synthesized a large body of research from multiple fields for Book Trust, a national literacy non-profit. We used the results to refine and validate their logic model, developing new strategy for communications and partnerships, as well as generating actionable insights for increasing the coherence and efficacy of their program design.

The design, facilitation, and evaluation of online communities of practice has been a longstanding professional interest. Most recently, as director of the U.S. Department of Education Office of Educational Technology's Connected Educators project, Darren Cambridge led research on how participation in online communities creates value for educators.

As one of the leaders of the National Center for Literacy Education, Darren Cambridge directed research on school-wide capacity building for literacy learning. Drawing on both a national survey and in-depth interviews with approximately 100 teachers and school leaders, we demonstrated that educators believe standards implementation leads to better results for students when the organizational conditions that support collective capacity building are in place.

I conducted empirical and theoretical research on eportfolios and learning, with a particular emphasis on higher education and lifelong learning contexts, for over a decade. This work is synthesized in Eportfolios for Lifelong Learning and Assessment (Jossey-Bass, 2010), which won the Digital Media and Learning Faculty Writing Prize from the MacArthur Foundation in 2012.

On behalf of the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Educational Technology, Darren Cambridge directed the Connected Educators initiative, investigating and cultivating professional learning in K12 education using technology.

The Inter/National Coalition for Electronic Portfolio Research has guided the work of teams from 68 institutions in five countries conducting three-year research projects on the impact of e-portfolios and personal development planning on learning and assessment on their campuses.

The CS10K Community Darren Cambridge developed for the National Science Foundation contributed to 1050% growth nationally in the number of teachers prepared to teach a new high school curriculum designed to broaden participation in computer science.

Darren Cambridge led development of a personalized professional development system for district leaders, synthesizing research to develop a Future Ready Leadership framework, and writing and producing a collection of 50 high-production-value Web videos shot on location.

For the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Educational Technology, Darren Cambridge's team developed a personalized profession learning toolkit to support district leaders in integrating informal online and district-supported professional development.

Darren Cambridge's team worked with the Department of Education to promote the use of networks to support professional learning and the transformative use of technology in the classroom. We led Connected Educators and Future Ready campaigns that took advantage of the Department's bully pulpit and ability to convene the education community, face-to-face and online.

The National Council of Teachers of English Washington office team, under Darren Cambridge's leadership, worked closely with teachers around the country and other organizations that represent them in Washington to advocate for policies that improve conditions for literacy learning. Our work help win authorization of dedicated funding for the comprehensive literacy program we worked with Senator Murray's staff to design in the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 and secure $190 million of funding for it in FY2016.

Grounded in the expertise of teachers in the classroom, our Kent D. Williamson Policy and Advocacy Center team synthesized and disseminated promising policy ideas for improving the conditions for literacy learning. Structural Kindness: Essays in Literacy Education in Honor of Kent D. Williamson features contributions by many of the leading voices in literacy today.